MLS: Union ready to battle it out in the Rockies

When the Philadelphia Union head to the Rockies today to face the Colorado Rapids, they’ll face a team similar to them in many ways.

Both teams are coping with an offseason of transition. Both have coaches in their second seasons at the helm. Both are coming off opening-week losses — the Rapids’ setback a 1-0 decision at FC Dallas — that have them, in Union boss John Hackworth’s words, “needing a win very badly.”

But that’s about where the similarities end in the inter-conference matchup.

Where the Union (0-1-0, 0 points) sought to bring in veterans to bolster a strong, youthful core after a disappointing 2012 season, the Rapids opted to get younger. Among the centerpiece moves of that transformation overseen by coach Oscar Pareja was leaving striker and the franchise’s all-time leading goalscorer Conor Casey unprotected in the re-entry draft for the Union to pluck him.

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The offseason machinations gave them two picks in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft’s top 11, which they used on forward Deshorn Brown (sixth) and midfielder Dillon Powers (11th), each of whom started in the opener against Dallas and got solid reviews from Hackworth.

It’s a team trying to grow together and has the added advantage of returning home to the rarefied air of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, one of the most physically demanding locales in the league.

“I do know this about Colorado: It’s a hard place to play, no matter who’s on the field,” Hackworth said Wednesday in his weekly press conference, adding that the blustery conditions his team practiced in at home this week were some preparation. “No matter what their record is, it’s really a difficult place to play. The altitude, it gets to you. In this sport, playing at the level we’re trying to play at, the altitude has an effect. We’re going to have to change some of our tactics because of that.”

The record bares that out. The Union are 0-3-2 against the Rapids, gaining just one point in two trips to the Rockies. In all five meetings, including a 2-1 loss that served as the 2012 home opener for the Union, the Rapids have scored first, though the Union have managed to find the score sheet in each game.

Colorado faces several selection questions today. Veteran goalkeeper Matt Pickens appears to be fit after missing last week’s game. Not yet ready to play is American international striker Edson Buddle, seen as a stopgap replacement for Casey. Buddle has been cleared to practice, but it appears his fitness is lacking and he’d rather have a reserve-league test of his balky right knee before going full bore.

That leaves the possibility of a familiar face leading the line for the Rapids: Danny Mwanga. The first draft pick in Union history who was traded last season to Portland landed in Colorado less than a week before the season started. Mwanga, who scored 12 goals in 61 appearances over two-plus seasons in Philly, didn’t make the bench in the opener, but he could be a candidate to start today, complementing the Casey old-stomping-grounds storyline.

“It’s Conor Casey vs. Danny Mwanga I guess,” Hackworth said. “I’m sure Danny Mwanga is going to be extremely motivated. I know he wasn’t in Colorado very long but now he’s had about a week or so to get adjusted there. It’ll be interesting. He’s one of those guys that our scouting report says could be on the field for them. It’ll be good to see him, but I probably won’t try to talk to him until after the game.”

Hackworth is also likely to ring the changes from the opening 3-1 defeat to Sporting Kansas City. In that game, he deviated from preseason form by deploying Sebastien Le Toux as the lone striker. Though he was reticent to commit Wednesday to playing Casey, it’s possible that perhaps he and Jack McInerney, who provided a lively turn of work off the substitute’s bench Saturday, could feature from the start.

“I haven’t made that decision yet, but I would expect some different players in the lineup, maybe not a lot,” Hackworth said. “But certainly I said it last week, I feel like we have good depth and there are guys who have competed in training the last seven weeks, and they deserve an opportunity. Certainly when you get caught on the side of score line that we did, I think players and everybody expects changes to be made.”